To Market, To Market ~ Herridge's Fruit Market, Mississauga ON

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.  Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!

I love local markets.  Fresh, seasonal, local produce at affordable prices are impossible to resist!

Ontario apples - there's nothing better!

I was recently introduced to a little gem in south Mississauga, Herridge's Fruit Market.  Each time I'd be in my mother's kitchen, I'd see the biggest, most gorgeous apples in her fruit bowl.  One day while visiting on lunch, I stole one for a mid-afternoon snack.  This may sound exaggerated, but it was one of the best apples I have ever eaten (the smallest details about food tend to excite me!).  After learning of the other Ontario-grown fruits and vegetables, mini bakery and outdoor planters available, I knew I had to go!  So a few weekends ago, we packed the boys up on a cool Saturday morning and headed to the market.


Herridge's Fruit Market is a proud family-run business that has been around for 75 years.  Surrounded by the Herridge family farm, the market is an ideal place to find the freshest local produce at excellent prices.

Yum! Swiss Chard!

For our first purchase at the market, we bought enough vegetables to last us a week, and two huge baskets of apples (McIntosh and Mutsu) for under $40.00.  We're still working on the apples but there aren't many left.  I've made apple sauce for a pork roast dinner, and Big-A has been bringing a Mac with him to school each day.  The Mutsu's are giant - we call them "sharing apples" and I've been bringing them to work with some cheddar cheese - a yummy 3pm snack!  We definitely got our money's worth!

A variety of fresh market veggies!

One of the veggies that I purchased was a humongous bunch of super-healthy Swiss Chard.  It was dark green in colour, full leaves with no tears or bruising.  I cooked it up that night and it was mouth-watering.  I simply washed the leaves throughly, cut out the white stems, roughly chopped the leaves, sauteed in a tbsp of butter, added a pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper, a pinch of pepper flakes and voila - a perfect side dish.  Lil-J still won't go for it and that's ok.  I put it on his plate each time we eat it because I know that one day, he'll try it and like it.  Big-A has graduated from only liking the stems to loving the leaves.  He said it was the best Swiss chard he's ever had!  I added more butter than normal, and it was so good that I craved it for the following week!  For more information on Swiss Chard and it's incredible health benefits, check out my post It's Not Easy Being Green...Swiss Chard.

All of the other veggies purchased were extremely fresh, lasted long in my refrigerator, and tasted so good with each dinner!

Along with amazingly fresh, locally grown produce, I also love any excuse to get outside and enjoy the fresh air with my boys.  Walking around looking at the flowers and planters was a lot of fun.  It's a perfect outing with little ones, just long enough to keep their attention.  I already can't wait to go back for more apples and Swiss Chard, and maybe some festive Christmas planters too!  If you live in Mississauga or the surrounding area, visit Herridge's Fruit Market and enjoy the fresh Ontario produce they have to offer!

Herridge's Fruit Market is located at 780 Southdown Rd, Mississauga ON, Ph# 905-822-0981.